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Is HN being subjected to some astroturf marketing techniques here? Seems rather suspicious to see so many commenters enthusiastically salivating over an advert

Is HN being subjected to some astroturf marketing techniques here? Seems rather suspicious to see so many commenters enthusiastically salivating over an advert for a very expensive radio. And also for said advert to hit the #1 spot on this site, despite not fitting into the usual categories for a compelling post.

uoaei 6y ago
It's ok that you are not privy to the hype around Teenage Engineering in general. Musicians like their devices because the UX design is interesting and relatively smooth, and the devices have a lot of flexibility for making interesting music.
- devilduck 6y ago
  Kind of funny to see synth stuff come up on HN. There are people who know and need to let you know they know, and people who don't know and don't get it being grumpy about it.
- munificent 6y ago
  The musician love for TE is on the wane as the company pivots from doing innovative industrial design for creative people to becoming another pointless luxury brand. They sell a $170 blank sweatshirt now.
zemo 6y ago
HN is fundamentally a community built around products and commodities (and especially tech startups). What discussion happens here about programming is a very market-centric view of the field. This post seems par for the course to me.
talentedcoin 6y ago
I'm with you. This is a product for rich narcissists.
- zemo 6y ago
  rich narcissists??? on HN?! the shock!! the surprise!!!1!
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
altdatathrow 6y ago
HN is always subject to astroturfing, it's just generally managed by YC directly. Ensuring positive opinion and adoption of their investments while keeping the competition soundly off the radar.
- dang 6y ago
  No, that's not the case. We do have Launch HNs for YC startups that get special treatment (one of three formal things that HN gives back to YC, the other two being job ads and displaying alumni usernames in orange). This is in the FAQ: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html. But those formal things aren't really the main value that HN has for YC. I've written about this lots of times: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=yc%20business%20interests%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so.... If you look at those explanations, you'll understand why we don't manipulate HN in the way you suggest. The good faith of the community is worth far more than anything we'd get by squeezing the lemon that way. Besides which, it would be wrong. There are also lots of explanations about how we moderate threads involving YC or YC startups: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=moderate%20less%20not%20more%20yc%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...
coldpie 6y ago
TE made one really stand-out product, the OP-1, and one kinda-pretty-good product, the OP-Z. They have a few other products of mixed reception and a bunch of typical high-end boutique junk if you really want their logo on your t-shirt or whatever. They're coasting on their reputation of the OP-1, which is deserved, but they haven't really come up with anything worthy of their reputation since.
- speedgoose 6y ago
  I think the Pocket Operator PO-33 KO stands out too.
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
evo_9 6y ago
Yes you caught me! After accumulating nearly 48k in Karma I finally sprung my marketing trap on the unsuspecting HN crowd with this post of mine! Actually just a huge fan and having owned 2 OP-1's, I'm just a big fan of Teenage Engineering.
detaro 6y ago
a) https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html b) It's an expensive tech gadget, these are discussed here all the time?
puranjay 6y ago
Teenage Engineering is the Apple of music gear. People who like their stuff, REALLY like their stuff.
postalrat 6y ago
I was thinking the same thing. How does this overpriced niche speaker make it to the top of hn so quickly?
- zemo 6y ago
  people upvote it because they think it's cool. That's how the system works.
  - postalrat 6y ago
    That's how the system should work. But it isn't always the case real people are upvoting.
    - zemo 6y ago
      there's literally no evidence that such a thing is happening.
dang 6y ago
"Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=true&page=0&query=by:dang%20astroturf https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...
CyberDildonics 6y ago
The real explanation might actually be that a lot of people on hacker news are easily taken in by marketing. A new look for something that was popular when people were kids at a 1000% markup should be easy to see through, but stuff like this happens all the time.

uoaei 6y ago

It's ok that you are not privy to the hype around Teenage Engineering in general. Musicians like their devices because the UX design is interesting and relatively smooth, and the devices have a lot of flexibility for making interesting music.

devilduck 6y ago
Kind of funny to see synth stuff come up on HN. There are people who know and need to let you know they know, and people who don't know and don't get it being grumpy about it.
munificent 6y ago
The musician love for TE is on the wane as the company pivots from doing innovative industrial design for creative people to becoming another pointless luxury brand. They sell a $170 blank sweatshirt now.

zemo 6y ago

HN is fundamentally a community built around products and commodities (and especially tech startups). What discussion happens here about programming is a very market-centric view of the field. This post seems par for the course to me.

talentedcoin 6y ago

I'm with you. This is a product for rich narcissists.

zemo 6y ago
rich narcissists??? on HN?! the shock!! the surprise!!!1!
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

altdatathrow 6y ago

HN is always subject to astroturfing, it's just generally managed by YC directly. Ensuring positive opinion and adoption of their investments while keeping the competition soundly off the radar.

dang 6y ago
No, that's not the case. We do have Launch HNs for YC startups that get special treatment (one of three formal things that HN gives back to YC, the other two being job ads and displaying alumni usernames in orange). This is in the FAQ: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsfaq.html. But those formal things aren't really the main value that HN has for YC. I've written about this lots of times: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=yc%20business%20interests%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so.... If you look at those explanations, you'll understand why we don't manipulate HN in the way you suggest. The good faith of the community is worth far more than anything we'd get by squeezing the lemon that way. Besides which, it would be wrong. There are also lots of explanations about how we moderate threads involving YC or YC startups: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=moderate%20less%20not%20more%20yc%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&so...

coldpie 6y ago

TE made one really stand-out product, the OP-1, and one kinda-pretty-good product, the OP-Z. They have a few other products of mixed reception and a bunch of typical high-end boutique junk if you really want their logo on your t-shirt or whatever. They're coasting on their reputation of the OP-1, which is deserved, but they haven't really come up with anything worthy of their reputation since.

speedgoose 6y ago
I think the Pocket Operator PO-33 KO stands out too.

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

evo_9 6y ago

Yes you caught me! After accumulating nearly 48k in Karma I finally sprung my marketing trap on the unsuspecting HN crowd with this post of mine! Actually just a huge fan and having owned 2 OP-1's, I'm just a big fan of Teenage Engineering.

detaro 6y ago

a) https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html b) It's an expensive tech gadget, these are discussed here all the time?

puranjay 6y ago

Teenage Engineering is the Apple of music gear. People who like their stuff, REALLY like their stuff.

postalrat 6y ago

I was thinking the same thing. How does this overpriced niche speaker make it to the top of hn so quickly?

zemo 6y ago
people upvote it because they think it's cool. That's how the system works.
- postalrat 6y ago
  That's how the system should work. But it isn't always the case real people are upvoting.
  - zemo 6y ago
    there's literally no evidence that such a thing is happening.

dang 6y ago

"Please don't post insinuations about astroturfing, shilling, brigading, foreign agents and the like. It degrades discussion and is usually mistaken. If you're worried about abuse, email hn@ycombinator.com and we'll look at the data." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comment&storyText=false&prefix=true&page=0&query=by:dang%20astroturf https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme...

CyberDildonics 6y ago

The real explanation might actually be that a lot of people on hacker news are easily taken in by marketing. A new look for something that was popular when people were kids at a 1000% markup should be easy to see through, but stuff like this happens all the time.